Lesson 6: The New Deal Primary Source Lesson
Duration of Days: 1
Lesson Objective
Students will analyze 2 documents with regard to the Great Depression and the New Deal's affect on Americans' definition of freedom.
1. What does Roosevelt mean by the difference between the definion of liberty that has existed in the past and his own "broader definition of liberty"?
2. According to Steinbeck, how do Depression-era migrant workers differ from those in earlier periods?
3. Do the migrant workers described by Steinbeck enjoy liberty as Roosevelt understands it?
Firside chat
migrant worker
peon class
HS.SS.2C - 2C. Assess options for individual and collective action to address local, regional, and global problems by engaging in self-reflection, strategy identification, and reasoning.
Students will read excerpts from "Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Firside Chat (1934)" and John Steinbeck's "The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath (1938)" to analyze the difference between FDR's vison of freedom in the Depression and the actual lives of migrant workers.
Teacher will guide discussion on the documents.
Class discussion
Two readings in Foner.